The prayer book, pictured right, entitled Prières de la Messe, was signed and dated Paris 1725 by Jean-Pierre Rousselet, who worked for Louis XIV and various aristocratic families during an epic 60-year career. Maria Leczinska received it on September 4, 1725 at Montarlot, the day before her marriage to him at Fontainebleau.
The illuminated 45ff duodecimo manuscript is the only one of Rousselet's 24 known manuscripts to be signed and dated. His manuscripts of the Epistles and Gospels (formerly in the Edmond de Rothschild Collection), also from 1725 and possibly also commemorating the royal wedding, sold at Sotheby's New York in December 2003.
The prayer book's mosaic binding by Antoine-Michel Padeloup, unrestored and of "exceptional freshness", featured interlacing L and M monograms. Maria Leczinska would commission a further six bindings from Padeloup. The prayer book remained in royal hands until 1864, when it was sold as part of the collection of the Duchesse de Berry. Subsequent owners included La Roche Lacarelle and André Langlois.
